Jason Richards will race a Porsche Carrera Cup in the next round at the Townsville street circuit.
Instigated by Carrera Cup team owner Paul Cruickshank, Richards will drive Porsche’s guest car, last raced by Mark Skaife at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in March.
The car will compete in Bid4Jase.com colours – the website established to raise money for the cancer-stricken star.
Cruickshank says that getting Richards the seat has been an easy process.
“It was an idea simply to help out a mate and give him something to race,” Cruickshank told Speedcafe.com.
“John Bowe and I spoke about it recently. I made some phone calls and it quickly gained momentum. All the rest of the details fell into place pretty quickly once we got going with it.”
Richards has been kept in the background on the details. All he has to do is turn up and drive …
“I’m not actually 100 percent over the details,” Richards told Speedcafe.com.
“Porsche Melbourne is going to supply the car and Paul Cruickshank has been the driving force behind me doing it. I’m catching up with Paul today to get the low down.
“They’ll be a great car to race. I’ve only ever driven a couple of Porsches, but I’ve never driven a late-model Cup Car. I’m looking forward to racing against Bairdo (Craig Baird) , Steve Richards, Daniel Gaunt and Jonny Reid. I think it will be fun.
“Obviously I’ll be there for the V8s anyway for the Friday practice anyway, so the Carrera Cup drive ties in nicely.
“It’s nice to try something different and not be this one dimensional V8-only person. As a driver, that’s exactly what you want.”
To aid Richards’ battle against cancer, Carrera Cup teams are also chipping in with some money and fundraising for Richards and his young family.
Porsche expects 22 cars to compete in the third round of the series at the Townsville circuit.
CLICK HERE for details on the fundraising dinner held for Richards last night.
